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20 Years old and they just found out i grew up with scoliosis

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  • 20 Years old and they just found out i grew up with scoliosis

    hello as you can see im new to the forum and i wouldnt be here if it wasnt for today

    ive been having killer back pain on and off and finally after 2 weeks of continous pain decided to go to the emergency room after missing numerous days of work due to the problem

    alls i know is my spine is s shaped the doctor didnt tell me how many degrees or anything other than "im going to prescribe you anti in flmmatories take them when you need them" basically saying that im going to have one more drug to rely on as i was on anti depressants and am on tegretol for epilepsy and now anti inflammatories for scoliosis

    i straight out asked the doctor is there any way to correct this? he replied "no"

    his advice was do crunches to strengthen my stomach muscles and ill never have to worry about this

    i know thats simply his opinion and am wondering after the numerous x-rays ive had since age 8 and onward about one a year why did nobody ever pick up scoliosis? and why now due to their ignorance do i have to suffer the rest of my life ?

    is there really no way to correct it at age 20? if so im gonna have one bad arch in my back around age 40 from what i can tell anyway

    its funny because my fiance has scoliosis as well and the doctors have almost bent over backwards for her getting her into therapy and bracing methods and excersises to correct it and she is 18 so why at age 18 is there a way to correct it but at age 20 there no way to correct it?

    any response would be great help is definitley appreciated

  • #2
    I understand your aggravation. However, if the docs never noticed it before, it is likely VERY ild and won't cause you any trouble. If it gets worse there is a surgery to correct it. The surgery is not fun, but a lot of people on these boards have had it and now have nice straight spines...and do very well! I got scoliosis due ot a hormone induced growth spurt. the docs should have known to watch me closer during that period...due to their negligence i will most likely require surgery. Doctors DON'T know everything. But, like I said, yours is probably not all that bad! in terms of bracing...your growth plates have to be open in order for bracing to work...meaning that once you stop growing there is no way to straighten the spine. but, if youa re 209 years old and a male...you may still have some growth left. i would get a second opinion!
    28 years old. Dx at age 14.

    1994 20T/20L
    1998 22T/20L
    2002 30T/28L
    2006 34T/28L
    2008 43T/34L

    considering surgery in the near future as the curvature is getting progressively worse and for pain management.

    XRAYS and pics at 28 years old. http://www.freewebs.com/skiergirl24/apps/photos/

    Comment


    • #3
      Where are your curves?
      God has used scoliosis to strengthen and mold us. He's good all the time!On this forum these larger curves have not held forever in Spinecor,with an initial positive response followed by deterioration. With deterioration, change treatment.The first year she gained 4 or 5 inches and was stable at around 20/20 in brace, followed by rapid progression the next year.She is now 51/40 (Jan2008)out of brace (40/30 in Spinecor) and started at 38/27 out of brace(Jan2006.) Now in Cheneau.

      Comment


      • #4
        You need to see a doc that deals with adult scoli patients. You might want to use the "search" at the top of this page.
        SandyC

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by XIXIX
          hello as you can see im new to the forum and i wouldnt be here if it wasnt for today

          ive been having killer back pain on and off and finally after 2 weeks of continous pain decided to go to the emergency room after missing numerous days of work due to the problem

          alls i know is my spine is s shaped the doctor didnt tell me how many degrees or anything other than "im going to prescribe you anti in flmmatories take them when you need them" basically saying that im going to have one more drug to rely on as i was on anti depressants and am on tegretol for epilepsy and now anti inflammatories for scoliosis

          i straight out asked the doctor is there any way to correct this? he replied "no"

          his advice was do crunches to strengthen my stomach muscles and ill never have to worry about this

          i know thats simply his opinion and am wondering after the numerous x-rays ive had since age 8 and onward about one a year why did nobody ever pick up scoliosis? and why now due to their ignorance do i have to suffer the rest of my life ?

          is there really no way to correct it at age 20? if so im gonna have one bad arch in my back around age 40 from what i can tell anyway

          its funny because my fiance has scoliosis as well and the doctors have almost bent over backwards for her getting her into therapy and bracing methods and excersises to correct it and she is 18 so why at age 18 is there a way to correct it but at age 20 there no way to correct it?

          any response would be great help is definitley appreciated
          Not to sound rude, but your doctor sounds like an idiot.
          There are ways, plenty of ways, to correct scoli so for him to flat out say no, shows he has very little interest in the actual care of his patients.
          Find a new primary care doctor and a scoli specialist.
          36 year old single mom of teens ages 14 & 15.
          Anterior/posterior spinal fusion on February 9th & 16th 2006 with Dr. Anthony Moreno who now has his own practice.
          Fused from T-3 to S-1 (sacrum)
          Curve pre-op = 70 degrees
          Curve post op = 20 degrees
          No pain anymore!!
          Google is your friend

          I am not a doctor and will never give medical advice. I will support and answer questions from personal experience only.

          Comment


          • #6
            Doc???

            yeah i believe the doctor to be a little thickheaded and i am going in for a second opinion

            first to my family doctor then a specialist

            from what i seen on the x-ray the curve was around the middle of the back and looks about a 3/4 piece of kraft diner elbow macaroni in the middle of the back onward to the lower back

            my main concern is that these doctors treat patients who dont bother to look into problems further and this could be a huge problem

            thank you all for your advice and i am definitly getting a second opinion as i want it correct without the use of pills everytime it hurts if you know what i mean

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi...

              I agree with Sandy and Kat, you should find a real scoliosis specialist. You can find a list here:

              http://www.srs.org/directory/directory.asp

              At 18, your fiance should be skeletally mature, so a brace would probably be of no use to her. There is ZERO proof that anything but surgery will permanently correct structural scoliosis curves once an individual is skeletally mature.

              Regards,
              Linda
              Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
              ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
              Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

              Comment


              • #8
                When you say you've had bunch of xrays and onward... what were they done for?
                30 something y.o.

                2003 - T45, L???
                2005 - T50, L31
                bunch of measurements between...

                2011 - T60, L32
                2013 - T68, L?

                Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
                Post - op curve ~35


                Comment


                • #9
                  To XIXIX

                  First, let me say that we are sorry that you are here. Chances are that neither your doctors were neglegent nor was the advice you were given too far off the mark.

                  As you may have guess from all the questions is that your condition is in the details. (where is your curve? how many degrees?) There is a ton of information here about scoliosis and the treatment. Unfortunately, the treatment oftentimes is waiting. . .Waiting to see the specialist that you need, waiting to see if your curves change overtime, waiting to see how much pain you have and how much the exercise can help, or waiting for a surgery date that will change your life.

                  We cannot blame doctors for negligence when we haven't asked, "Do you think there is something wrong with my back?" Scoliosis usually doesn't cause pain in young adults and unless it is severe, nobody will see it. Unless you are hurting, you won't ask the question. And even if you did ask the question in the past, there may have been nothing wrong at the time.

                  Second, every surgeon that I have seen (7), has first prescibed some kind of exercise program for me. They do it, because one cannot justify surgery unless other options have been exhausted.

                  Take some time alone to work through all this new information and emotion. Ask questions here, read old posts. Find a qualified specialist in your area and make the appointment (who will likely tell you will need to exercise) then wait. . .

                  pc

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    the x-rays were for colds and lung problems i had and for numerous other things ive never had just specifically my back x-ray until now but dont x-ray show the back if you were to x-ray the ribs and so on?

                    i am definitly going to get back to exercising but want the reccomennded excersises for scoli

                    and am going to figure out how exactly i can get into see a specialist seeing as i live out of town and have no car

                    but thank you all soo much for your comments and aid as this was a huge surprise to me to have this condition

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I'm a similar case to you, XIXIX. Not a usual scoliosis (I have a fusion due to a birth defect), but like you, I went in for lung X-rays at 7, and nothing was done about things (the doctors actually spotted the defect, but I was copping an X-ray a day at the time, and no-one wanted to put my young body through any more). I wasn't officially diagnosed until 27!

                      To put it straight, when your doctor tells you that stomach crunches will fix everything, he's talking crap. There's about a 0.1% chance that doing twenty crunches each morning is going to make everything go away. Your body has had 20 years to have the muscles get stretched beyond where they were designed to go. Mine were so unbalanced that I was getting a migraine every time I tried to do anything.
                      Instead, you'll likely be given an exercise regimen that takes care of your whole body a lot more. I am doing Pilates and swimming, and both have been excellent. They both concentrate on strengthening many, many things.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        reason

                        Scoliosis is mainly caused by functional misalignment in pelvis. When pelvis rotates and is twisted the whole spine goes to curves.

                        Pelvis problems can happen by falling, accident, wrong lifting or even when you cough or sneeze -> and scoliosis starts to develope. So that can happen at any age, even older age. And often you don't even realize you have twisted pelvis until you feel pain.

                        So ask them to check if your iliac bones are misaligned... if they are, there is the reason.
                        Last edited by expatient; 05-24-2006, 06:40 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by expatient
                          Scoliosis is mainly caused by functional misalignment in pelvis. When pelvis rotates and is twisted the whole spine goes to curves.

                          Pelvis problems can happen by falling, accident, wrong lifting or even when you cough or sneeze -> and scoliosis starts to develope. So that can happen at any age, even older age. And often you don't even realize you have twisted pelvis until you feel pain.

                          So ask them to check if your iliac bones are misaligned... if they are, there is the reason.
                          I don't think you should be claiming any causes unless you have solid proofs. The pelvis can be misalingned and rotated DUE to the curve or vice versa, no one knows for sure. But to claim scoliosis is caused by pelvic misalingment is unethical and irresonsible.
                          Last edited by green m&m; 05-24-2006, 09:03 AM.
                          30 something y.o.

                          2003 - T45, L???
                          2005 - T50, L31
                          bunch of measurements between...

                          2011 - T60, L32
                          2013 - T68, L?

                          Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
                          Post - op curve ~35


                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Everyone has a different cause of scoliosis

                            That's funny that Expatient wrote in saying that the pelvis is the cause of scoliosis, because one of my chiropractors, who is a cervical neck specialist, thinks that it is caused by the atlas (first cervical vertebrae) being off center and causing the spine to twist.

                            So everyone has a different reason, however, I don't think either one is 100% correct. It is most likely a combination of those factors plus other things going on in each person's body; we will never know all of the reasons until we ask our creator someday!

                            Deb

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by green m&m
                              I don't think you should be claiming any causes unless you have solid proofs. The pelvis can be misalingned and rotated DUE to the curve or vice versa, no one knows for sure. But to claim scoliosis is caused by pelvic misalingment is unethical and irresonsible.
                              I read that from medical articles.

                              I had scoliosis, LLI and bad posture since I was kid. Now 25 years later I no longer have LLI and my posture is better. I just wish they had corrected me when I was a kid... Why didn't I? Because the doctors didn't know...

                              Originally posted by Cakedec
                              That's funny that Expatient wrote in saying that the pelvis is the cause of scoliosis, because one of my chiropractors, who is a cervical neck specialist, thinks that it is caused by the atlas (first cervical vertebrae) being off center and causing the spine to twist.
                              It causes scoliosis too. I don't know which comes first, but many people with scoliosis have them both: SIJD and Atlas subluxation.

                              Originally posted by Cakedec
                              So everyone has a different reason, however, I don't think either one is 100% correct. It is most likely a combination of those factors plus other things going on in each person's body; we will never know all of the reasons until we ask our creator someday!
                              Most f them have many reasons.
                              Deb
                              Yes. You can have also sacrum subluxated and even hip joints luxated. They too effect on pelvic symmetry and spinal posture.

                              I had my Atlas, hip joints and SIJ corrected a year ago and I have had new painless life since that after living 10 years in pain hell...

                              Comment

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